The main aim of this WP is to manage and coordinate all the different activities within the project and to ensure that the project consortium delivers the results while at the same time fulfils contractual obligations. P1 (project coordinator) and P2 (project manager) are responsible for management of this WP1.

This WP aims to provide an in-depth investigation of OER in 17 less used European languages seven languages of the network plus ten extra European languages). It is based on a preliminary desktop research that is detailed in section D.1 “Investigation of the field (state of the art) and innovative character”, outlined below.

Activities

Final stage of the desktop research to address the issues identified in the first screening, an in-depth investigation and analysis of OER in the target languages and in extra 10 less used European languages will be enhanced through the engagement of the partners. The OER will be analysed exhaustively according to components contributing to qualities concerning their possibilities for re-use, re-purpose and development to meet the needs of diversified users in the target languages at national and international level (Deliverable 9 - download as pdf).

State-of-the-art report. This outcome will summarise the results of the previous deliverable in a report that will be translated into all targeted languages (Deliverable 10 - download as pdf).

Awebinar on “the current state of OER in less used languages” to disseminate the results of the state-of-the-art to as many stakeholders as possible, a webinar will be organised with the aim to sketch the current landscape (of very low representation) of OER in less used and propose pathways for future action (Deliverable 11 - download as pdf).

Aweb 2.0 shared references library. We will make available a web 2.0 public library to enable the sharing of references and texts in the field of OER/OEP with emphasis in less used languages. The web 2.0 library will fulfil its role throughout the project lifetime, by inviting users outside the network to enable expansion and contribution to the sharing of resources and for the set-up of a self-sustaining network (Deliverable 12 - download as pdf).

The purpose of this work package is to identify the main challenges and opportunities arising from OER for less used languages, and to formulate policy recommendations for governments and educational institutions. P8 leads this work package due to its world-wide expertise on OER.

Activities

The challenges of OER for less used languages will be scrutinized in a three-step process:

Aworking policy paper on the challenges and opportunities faced by less used languages: the global and the European perspective (deliverable 13 - download as pdf).

An expert consultation involving European and non-European experts (the latter will be members of the ICDE from different communities of less used languages) as well as project partners. The expert consultation will take the form of a workshop whose objective is to discuss and produce input for finalisation of the policy paper (deliverable 14 - download as pdf).

Finalisation of the policy paper and broad dissemination of the final policy paper at European and international level (deliverable 15 - download as pdf).

The purpose of this work package is two-fold. First, to ensure that the training activities and resources made available by the project partners were made known and taken up by the target groups. The second, more general objective, is to share the knowledge gained by the partners with the wider stakeholder community to enhance the uptake of such tools in collaborative efforts on LLP projects. It is coordinated by the JDU team in Poland.

Several key activities were implemented in relation to dissemination.

The Pilot training course ran between November and December 2014 through the OpenLearning platform with a group of 36 participants.

Teacher training courses in seven EU countries. More than 200 educators in Europe attended the training courses were delivered in Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, the Netherlands (courses were delivered in Dutch and Frisian), Poland and Greece. Blended learning solutions (online and face-to-face) were adopted, enabling digital sharing of teaching materials and interaction beyond the face-to-face training sessions. The training also addressed minority languages (e.g. Frisian and Latgalian).

Teacher training materials on the use of OER. The handbook Going Open with LangOER is a freely downloadable guide for teachers, released by two LangOER team members, Ania Skowron and Gosia Kurek. It is structured in four modules and offers practical advice on pedagogical, methodological and technological issues about the (re-)use of open content in the classroom.

Community Building for teachers -

An open Facebook group LangOER teachers has been set up, serving as a central hub for online communication and collaboration for teachers interested in OER and less used languages.

Sharing of OER through the Learning Resource Exchange (LRE) - The materials created during teacher training courses were first used in real teaching contexts by participants in the training courses and then to enrich the pan-European OER metadata catalogue Learning Resource Exchange (LRE) of the European Schoolnet - LangOER collection of resources

This exploitation work package is specifically focused on Regional and Minority Languages (RML) in Europe. These languages require specific attention because of their geographical spread and the numbers of speakers concerned.

There are two target groups of this WP:

RML educators and stakeholders in Europe and

RML educators and stakeholders members of the “Network of Schools”.

Both target groups will be addressed by activities of this WP and in particular through:

The objective of this WP is to explore the potential of OER from a language learning pedagogy perspective. Challenges for both research and practice in the language learning field will be documented, analyzed and valorized through pan-European language learning expert meetings and scientific publications.

The motivation for running this WP is to explore the possibilities and limits of OER in language learning. This particular learning subject calls for further investigation due to two fundamental components: peer support (teacher feedback) and human interaction, namely interaction with native speakers and more knowledgeable peers.

The approach adopted by the network to tackle these issues consists of the following activities.

A video showcase of interviews with experts on OER for language education. Thirteen experts agreed to answer questions, such as: Do you believe that OER are appropriate in a language learning context? Do you see possibilities of OER (re-)use in teacher-free learning contexts? Are social networks a suitable means for OER uptake and expansion?

The webinar “Out in the Open, reaching for the stars: EU-US insights into Open Educational Practices for language education” took place on September 15, 2015. It was co-organised by LangOER together with the Centre for OER and Language Learning (COERLL) in the US Speakers were Carl Blyth, Joshua Thoms, Katerina Zourou, and the moderator was Teresa MacKinnon. The recording and slides are available.

A collection of peer-reviewed research papers entitled “Social Dynamics in Open Educational Practice” was released in the open access journal ALSIC, under volume 19, 2016.The collection was edited by Katerina Zourou. All articles are available online.

The objective of this WP was to exploit the outcomes of the LangOER project to reach and support mainstreaming into policies.

Organization of the final conference Open Education: Promoting Diversity for European Languages (26-27 September 2016, Brussels) - Main aim of the event was to raise awareness among participants whose languages are less active in the OER field, demonstrate good practice identified in activities of WP2 and identify barriers to and levers for OER uptake - LangOER conference materials

Support to policy makers - The LangOER project has been contributing to the promotion of learning and teaching of less used European languages by linking them to the global challenges of Open Education, through awareness raising and capacity building activities. Under this framework, a consultation process was designed to enable policy makers to interact with experts.

The LangOER project policy recommendations 'Enabling Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Europe through OER' were presented and discussed during open sessions and workshops, at the final conference and in a webinar, for further cycles of revision. As final activity of this process, the project invited the involved stakeholders to join the Policy consultation group on Facebook, promoting a dialogue around the policy recommendations and key resources in the field, as well as at enhancing OER into policy and encourage further action.

As WP leader, European Schoolnet set up and maintain external communications procedures and tools and coordinated actions to disseminate project results to all relevant stakeholders (e.g., researchers, educators, policy makers). All LangOER partners were actively engaged In dissemination activities.

Deliverables

LangOER website - This website was used to announce project activities, to promote face-to-face and online training sessions and to provide a gateway to the showcase of good practice to stimulate interest and raise awareness in the area of OER for less used languages.

LangOER Blog - A blog was created and maintained to promote news on the project and its results, with the contribution of all partners - LangOER blog

LangOER printed promotional materials - Based on a common and attractive style for the LangOER project, promotional materials were created and used to disseminate activities of the network, with information about the objectives and main activities in the partners' languages (GR, NL, LT, LV, PL, SE and Frisian; deliverable 37 - download as pdf).

LangOER presence on a social networking platform - The main purpose of the social networking platforms was to maintain a lively and productive dialogue between all relevant stakeholders, within and outside the network, with the aim to bridge project activities to other initiatives and organizations active in the OER/OEP and less used languages fields.

Conference presentations. The promotion of LangOER network by project partners took place at relevant conferences and events throughout the project life time. The purpose of these presentations was to first of all promote the project activities and to foster its networking dimension and secondly, to raise awareness and develop skills among all target groups, and, more particularly, among policy makers, educators teaching in less used languages, researchers and practitioners involved in the field of OER.

Aid the consortium partners in achieving good quality results and outcomes in line with the project objectives

Provide procedures and tools to involve the target groups in shaping project activities according to their real needs.

The activities in line to these aims are listed below.

Create quality indicators to aid WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5, WP6 and WP7.

Compose a quality assurance and evaluation plan in order to specify formative and summative evaluation tools and procedures, internal quality assurance processes as well as partner roles in the process.

Provide and apply suitable tools in order to form the dialogue with the project’s target groups, particularly educators and policy makers active in the field of less used languages (e.g. Instruments for evaluating the developed materials for teachers - Deliverable D41, download as pdf).

Feedback the results to the project consortium in order to inform further project work and make improvements. This reflective activity is related to the lessons that can be drawn from the project reagarding the reach and the impact of the network, at a national, European and international level (e.g. innovation audit, Deliverable D42).